The aneurysm was first detected in a brain M.R.I. performed on 3/9/95. When I was first told of this, it was quite a shock. The doctor told me they had found something in the M.R.I.. I was excited that they had finally found something after a couple months of looking. Then they told me that it was totally unrelated to any of the symptoms that I had been experiencing. Finally he gave me the shocking news, that they had found an aneurysm in the right middle cerebral artery. Up to this point, I had never heard of anyone knowing they had an aneurysm before it ruptured. On 3/21/95 they looked for other aneurysms while performing the brain angiogram. Only one was found. I was told that it was a small one, only 8mm. They called it a right middle cerebral trifurcation aneurysm. On March 22, 1995, the neurologist tried to assure me that there was nothing to be concerned about. He told me that the chance of the aneurysm rupturing was very minimal. He even went so far as to call the surgery an elective craniotomy. I was reassured that the aneurysm had nothing to do with any of the symptoms that I was currently experiencing.
A few doctors told me that I should have the surgery done to get my aneurysm clipped. The thought of having a time bomb in my brain was a very insecure feeling. I found myself not wanting to leave town for fear that it would rupture. By early May, 1995, I told the surgeon that I wanted him to perform the surgery as soon as possible. After he received assurances from the cardiologist that I could go through general anesthesia, then he agreed to perform the surgery.
On May 26, 1995, I had a successful clip ligation surgery to correct the aneurysm. While going to recovery, the surgeon witnessed facial twitching that indicated a seizure. This caused the surgeon to order another M.R.I. to verify there wasn't any internal bleeding. From the day of surgery until late June 1995, I have almost no memory of what happened. What I know about this time is mostly what other people have told me.
I was released from ICU the first time on Saturday morning (May 27, 1995.) Most of this day, while I was awake, I knew who my family was, and knew they were there. The nurses were able to wake me up and get me to answer some questions. But early Sunday, May 28th, I had become unresponsive and had to be sent for another M.R.I.. It was found that I had brain swelling. This returned me to ICU for the second time. I was not responsive until around 5:00 pm. I wasn't released from ICU until some time late Monday the 29th. Most of my time was spent sleeping. I was oblivious to most visitors. On June 1, 1995, I was released from the hospital for the first time. During the stay in the hospital, I had no concept of time. My wife tells me that I would call and leave messages several times in a given day.
When I got home, I just layed around and slept. I had to be forced to take the medication every four hours. Getting me to take a shower, was almost impossible.
June 6th I went to the surgeons office to get my stitches removed. My surgeon's associate was called in to see me since my surgeon was on vacation.At first, this doctor thought that maybe I was just depressed, since this is common after this type of surgery. My wife reassured him that I really did not feel good. He decided to send me to get another M.R.I.. When the M.R.I. test came back, they could see that I had a lot of swelling. He checked my smile and how well I could hold my arms up. The right side of my mouth went up, but the other one didn't. The left arm drifted while the other didn't. He also saw some deterioration in the left optic nerve. They had a blood test done to determine if it was caused by infection, and sent me home to await the results. On Wednesday June 7th, my wife was told that the blood test was inconclusive. They didn't think it was an infection. To be sure, they decided to do another M.R.I. with contrast. I was admitted to the hospital for this test, and then sent to ICU for the third time. Initially they felt that I would be back in the hospital for several days. They were giving me medication to reduce the brain swelling.
Within one hour after they started me on medication, I was a totally different person. I was alert, joking around, and wanting something to eat. My wife was shocked at the rapid change and mad that it hadn't been taken care of sooner. After three days of hospital care, the swelling was gone, and I got to go home on June 9th for the last time. I was still to be on the medication for the swelling, and fluids were restricted.
The next month was mostly spent sitting in a recliner. My wife told me that she had to hide the pain pills from me because I couldn't remember that I had just taken a pill and would take another one. My head felt as if my brain was throbbing. Kind of like the throbbing brain on Seventh Guest. Once during this month, my personal doctor visited me at home. He even stayed longer than a regular office visit, and didn't charge for the visit. When I later thanked him for this, he told me I needed the visit because in the hospital I looked like I had died and gone to hell. It is nice to know that we have at least one doctor that still cares more about the patient than the money. Sorry if I have offended any doctors reading this.
I found everything I did for the first few weeks to be very tiring. I sat down to brush my teeth and had to take a nap after taking a shower or doing any thing physical. By mid-late June I would try to go on walks with my wife and children. It took a while, but I was finally able to go to the end of the block and back. By a month after surgery, I was able to walk around the block. After taking any of these walks it was nap time.
For a long time I didn't have the mental ability to do very much. It was very hard to think about even simple things like playing solitaire. I have felt as if I had to relearn a lot of things. A lot of memories have also been lost. I have at times had to ask my wife what our phone number and address were. A few times while driving, I have forgotten a turn or even how to get to where I was going. Once I felt lost while driving home. I keep a cellular phone in the car in case of emergencies or problems.
For a long time I couldn't figure out what was wrong with the way things looked. Then one day I realized everything on the right side was black. Trying to figure out what was wrong, I covered my left eye. To my astonishment, everything went away. I was now completely blind in the right eye. I have regained some of the sight in this eye, but not very much. I used to have 20/20 vision, now I have 20/80, and my night vision is terrible. The bad eye overlays the good eye with a clouded shadowy image that makes everything a little darker. The good side is that the sun doesn't effect my right eye. My Optometrist has told me that I have permanent nerve damage in this eye.
In the past, I have been very active in the Boy Scout program. By late June, I was convinced that I wanted to go to scout camp with my son's in early July. My doctors could see nothing wrong with this, as long as I didn't go swimming or on any hikes, so I went. This is probably the single best thing I could have done for myself. I still got tired easy and had to sit down a lot, but I was active every day. One of my son's was always with me so that I didn't get lost. This would have been easy to do as I was always forgetting how to get from one place to another. Even though I was tired, by the end of the week I felt much better.
Currently, I still have trouble keeping my mind on things, and remembering how to do my work. I am a computer programmer, and find it very difficult to keep track of all the aspects of a program while I am trying to write it.
I have had a major problem with caring about what I am doing, and what is going on in my life. I have gained weight since going in for surgery. I have tried some physical activity, and have gotten to where I can now walk about three miles at a time. I used to spend my lunch hour walking, but haven't felt much like it lately.
Before surgery, I had come to the conclusion that there was a good chance that I wouldn't live. One day a sat down and wrote a goodbye letter to a close friend, and tried to write my own funeral program so my wife wouldn't have to. This was emotionally, a very hard day.
I have been on anti depression drugs since mid July 1995. Last week my doctor diagnosed me as having manic depression. I will be very happy when it is all over, and I can go back to my normal self. I am sure my family will be also.
I look forward to hearing from anyone who wants to write. I have additional information concerning my prior symptoms, and annotated pictures of the brain if any one wants them. The files are rather large. I have five different pictures, so write and let me know what you are interested in. The pictures helped me as I tried to figure out what and where the aneurysm was. Any help with my prior symptoms would be appreciated, as my doctors have given up looking for the answer.